Hat tip to Tim Ferriss for leading me to this article from Martin Seligman.

I find it rather funny that when men get to their 50’s they start buying race cars.  Richard Branson didn’t do that.  He started Virgin Unite.

Great quote from Martin:

For classmates who are headed toward retirement, Seligman offers the following tip: “Material objects have almost no role in positive emotion. As you organize your retirement, spend it on meaningful engagement. Don’t squander your savings on boats and houses.”

Martin Seligman ‘64

My favorite charity is Village Banking.  They give out microloans to very small businesses in very poor areas of the world.  Instead of giving away money that most governments keep or dilute a great deal, Village Banking make loans directly to the business owner.  They have to pay it back too so their business has to be viable and people at the Village Bank make sure of that.

I think it is the best idea to bring prosperity to poor areas.  For example…

FINCA began operations in a war-torn Afghanistan in 2004. Despite the continuing challenges of regional instabilities and security issues, it is one of FINCA’s fastest growing programs, and recently won a prestigious Pro-Poor Innovation Challenge award for its microfinance project targeting women, ethnic minorities, and returning refugees. The program plans to reach 90,000 clients by 2009.

Join me in bringing prosperity to the world by giving to Village Banking.

I know Paul Newman thru his charity work mostly.  I’ve seen him some movies and I know he liked race car driving which is a bit loud for me.  His charity work was exceptional.

He lived quietly in Westport, Connecticut far from Hollywood.  I think this is a big factor.  He was a great actor but he didn’t get caught up in all the Hollywood junk.  He was down to earth.

Newman’s Own was the first massed produced organic company and is still very successful.  All the profits are given away without galas, mailings, and other expensive outreaches.  Again Paul living outside Hollywood and being a down to earth guy were the cause of this simple business that is huge.  All of their marketing is free word of mouth.  Great stuff gets out.

I believe starting a foundation and giving back to society is an extension of good business.  Why give all the money away to taxes when you can give it away to people that need help.  Paul Newman’s foundations gave away all the profits of his food line, he had summer camps for kids, his charity helped out other charities and not just the A-list charities.  He helped out charities that were not well known.  Charities that make a real difference.  A lot of people give money to the well known charities which have a tendency to have high administration costs and I’m not a big fan of them myself.  Paul was very selective and put a lot of thought into who got money and who he supported.  Unfortunately many in Hollywood support charities in order to look good and promote themselves.  Not Paul and his family.

So I will remember Paul Newman as one of the greatest philanthropist of all time and a role model for how I want to live my life.

Bye Paul, you made a difference.